There was one thing Rudy Bagos hated doing after school the past two fall seasons: Going to football practice.

It had nothing to do with his Old Saybrook-Westbrook cooperative program, but the drive. It’s not pleasant going from East Lyme to Old Saybrook on Interstate 95, no matter what time of day. It generally took him an one hour or more, one way.

Now, Bagos will just have to step out the back door of the gym he occupies every day. On Thursday, as expected, Bagos was named head football coach at East Lyme.

“I’m glad to be back,” Bagos said.

Bagos — who was the quarterback on Ledyard’s 1986 state championship team — is not a new face around the program or the school. He has been a health and physical education teacher at East Lyme for the past 12 years, and served as an assistant varsity coach and head coach for the freshman program.

Two years ago, he took over the Rams, who play in the Pequot Football Conference. His teams finished with back-to-back 5-5 records.

“The division that Old Saybrook-Westbrook is in is pretty competitive. We had teams go to the Class S state title game the last two years,” Bagos said. “The difference in the ECC is that there are no slouches. Week in and week out, it’s always a challenge.”

The opportunity opened for Bagos when East Lyme athletic director Steve Hargis and the school’s administration grew concerned about the lack of participation on the football program. Hargis felt one of the key reasons for that — numbers in the program dropped from 100 in 2006 to 60 this past season — was no one on the football coaching staff taught in the high school, including former head coach Paul Tenaglia.

He asked Tenaglia to stay on as the team’s defensive coordinator, but Tenaglia declined.

“I worked with Paul when I was the freshman coach and learned a lot from him,” Bagos said. “I wish he would have stayed on. He leaves big shoes to fill.”

That leaves Bagos with his first priority, getting more student-athletes to come out for football. He said he already has indications there is more excitement about the program. Taking a page from the new head coach of the Connecticut Sun, Anne Donovan, he said “maybe a change in faces” will help.

“Rudy is not only extremely knowledgeable about the football Xs and Os, but is a well-respected teacher at East Lyme,” Hargis said in a statement. “I believe this combination will create a team that is successful on the field as well as in the classroom.”

Bagos said one change that will likely take place for the Vikings, who finished 2-8 overall and 1-3 in the ECC Large last season, will be the offense. He plans to use the I-formation more often, and don’t be surprised if the double-wing and spread take root as well.

Page 2 of 2 - He will have one advantage that Tenaglia did not have this past season, a home field. Bagos said the new turf field is in and only the track that surrounds it needs to be completed. It should be finished by this fall.